Host Patty Peltekos starts today’s conversation by sharing all the ways people can have a miserable time traveling by air. From cancellations, delays, ever higher prices, cities losing air service, baggage fees, harrowing connections, and more, everyone has their own frustration with the airline industry. Our guest Ganesh Sitaraman, situates all these issues in the context of Congress’s bailout of the industry, economic policy, and US history to explain how we got here, and how we can fix it. 

Sitaraman shares insights from his book, Why Flying is Miserable, including the reasons why the airline industry is in a cycle of boom and bust. He lays out what he says are three phases of the airline industry: the early era of the industry from the birth of the airplane to the 1930s; the era of competitive regulation from the 1930s to the 1970s; and the current era of deregulation. Though the industry isn’t likely to support deregulation, Sitaraman says people are starting to question what forms of regulation can stabilize the industry. For people who want to make the industry better, Sitaraman says our actions as citizens will be more influential than our actions as consumers.

Ganesh Sitaraman is a law professor and the director of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation. He is the author of numerous books including The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution and The Great Democracy. He was previously a senior advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren on her presidential campaign and is a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee. He lives in Nashville, TN.

Featured image: remix of the cover of Why Flying is Miserable.

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